PART 1
'Tell me! Tell me all! Tell me now!' Amber demanded, slamming the school door shut behind her. I couldn't help but laugh, she was so snoopy. I pretended to ponder for a moment
'Nahh, I don't think I will.' I chuckled at the devastated expression on her face, trying to push my most recent encounter with Alex out of my head. I would save all the thinking and mulling over for later, right now I needed to focus on keeping Amber in the dark about, well, everything.
'Holly, you tell me and you tell me right now Missus. Since when have you and the Mr Godlike himself been on speaking terms? What were you talking about? Is he as nice as he is perfect? Do you like him? Don't ruin my fun!' She rattle off her questions at top speed, and it took a moment for me to process them, she continued to fix me with a pleading stare, which only succeeded in making her look like a stoned frog. She REALLY can't do puppy dog eyes.
'Firstly, you have a boyfriend.' I tutted disapprovingly at her. She vaguely waved this, apparently insignificant, fact off.
'Secondly, he just asked me if I knew where Miss Walker's classroom was. That's all. Capeesh.' I tried to shrug off her questions, keeping my eyes straight ahead. I hated lying to her, but really, I had no choice. No, that wasn't true. I'd had a choice, years ago. I could have told her about me, and my Dad. I didn't. Now, it was too late. Even if she could somehow get over the fact that I could read minds, I'd still lied to her for years.
'No way Miss Dark and Mysterious over there. You are not getting away with that! I want all the details! And, Hol, please promise you'll never employ such terrible use of mafia slang again, or we can't be friends anymore.' She did have a point, I was acting mysterious. Dear lord, I was being like one of those annoying girls you read about who whines about being lonely, but then never talk to her friends.
It was at this very point that I made a decision, I was going to start being honest with Amber. Well, as honest as I could be. I would NOT be one of those mope-y drama queens. No sir-ee.
'Ok, look. He just wanted to ask me about some work. But then we got to talking and then your boyfriend interrupted us, and THEN you came out singing your little heart out!' I sent her a sly glance. She ignored this; she obviously suffers from selective hearing.
'I think a little fix-up is in order. You should seriously try and get his number or something. I could ask him for you. Or I could ask Jared to ask him for you, but that's kind of immature. Then again, YOU are kind of immature.'
'I will not dignify that with a response,' I grumbled, making a face at her.
'And I do NOT need you setting me up. I'm seriously not interested in having a boyfriend. Now I understand that you find that hard to comprehend, needy little being that you are, but please. Just try. For me.' This earned me a whack on the head with Amber's science book.
It was such a relief to get home that night. After answering Amber's shamelessly intrusive questions (my personal favourite being: 'Did he have sweat patches in his armpit or groin area? Cause that means he was nervous around you and looooves you!'), as honestly as I could, I was finally able to relax. Of course this plan was doomed to fail. Having been in the house a grand total of five minutes, the sister from hell came a knocking at my door.
'Holly! I think I killed Brendon. Can I just flush him or what?' Came her muffled voice from the outside of my door. She was such a sensitive soul. Great, now my fish was dead. I sighed, kicking open my bedroom door, secretly hoping it would hit Kate in the face, it didn't.
'Kate! You can't just go around killing people's fish! Where is he? Why were you even NEAR him?' I ran to Brendon's tank, taking in the devastation she had caused. Somehow she had managed to snap one of the plastic sides off, water was still cascading over the cupboard, the remains of Brendon's tank were resting on. Brendon himself was flapping around aimlessly in a bowl only a quarter filled with water. He was not dead. He was a fighter! I busied myself finding a larger bowl, and filling it with clean water, all the while letting my thoughts drift to Alex.
When I had finished, I stepped back admiring my handy work. It wasn't perfect, but it'd do.
'Here you go,' I said to nobody in particular as I carefully slid Brendon into his new home.
'Sorry, I know your other house was bigger.' I told him, holding the clear bowl up to eye level so I could see him.
'But don't worry; at least you don't have to look at that stupid plastic castle anymore. Anyway the ladies'll love this. It looks more open.' I tried my hand at comforting him. Stupid Kate, poor Brendon. It was at this moment Kate chose to make her appearance.
'Want me to flush him for you?' She asked, seemingly thrilled at the idea of disposing of my 'dead' pet.
'He's not dead, idiot.' I motioned to the bowl in my arms, with a very much alive Brendon swimming in circles inside. She looked almost disappointed.
'And you can buy a new tank tomorrow. And you probably should clean up that mess you made with his old tank, Mum and Dad should be home soon.' I breezed past her, Brendon's new tank cradled in my arms.
'Uhh, I'm not buying your fish a new tank. And no way am I cleaning that crap up. I might cut myself.' She ranted, following me up the stairs. I rolled my eyes at Brendon, who seemed to give me a 'she's such a pain in the gills' look. I wished I could get inside animals minds, I'd bet everything I owned that right then, those were his exact thoughts. Unfortunately, I couldn't read animals minds, I'd tried, but all it did was give me a nasty headache. Maybe someday...
'I think Brendon would like a tank with a backdrop, maybe an under the sea theme.' I mused aloud, enjoying winding Kate up.
'Did you hear me? I'm not buying your stupid fish a stupid tank. And I'm not cleaning up a mess I didn't make!' She had such a whiney voice. I turned to her, trying not to laugh at her obvious lie.
'Kate, YOU broke the tank. You buy a new one. And don't try and lie, you are the only person who could've broken it.' I pointed an accusing finger in her direction, which turned out to be a mistake. I fumbled with Brendon's new home, only just managing to secure him in my arms.
'I didn't break it moron, it was already broken when I got home.' She said, in a voice you would use to explain something to a toddler.
'Kate, how the hell does a wall break off a fish tank, BY ITSELF?' I yelled, she frustrated me no end. Did she really think I was that stupid?
'It was! I swear, why would I want to kill your stupid fish? You should be grateful; when I got home he was flapping around with hardly any water. I saved him.' She looked exasperated.
'Liar.' I finally managed to open my bedroom door, and placed Brendon, on my nightstand, turning to face Kate.
'I'm not lying!' She practically screamed, her face flushing a delicate pink colour. She looked quite deranged.
'So, what, BRENDON smashed the plastic wall of his tank, in order to stage his elaborate escape plan?' My voice dripped with sarcasm. I shook my head at her. Why did she have to be so difficult?
'I don't KNOW how it happened! But when I got home twenty minutes ago it was like that. End. Of.' She turned on her heel, and stomped into her (rarely used) bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her with enough force to send tremors through the whole house.
'Drama Queen.' I muttered to nobody in particular as I shut my own bedroom door and collapsed onto my bed. Why did I seem to end every school day this way?
A trickle of unease settled in my stomach. Kate had to have been lying, how else could a solid plastic tank have collapsed? Maybe a cat had gotten in somehow. Yeah, that was what must have happened. I kept up a constant stream of reassuring thoughts. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Silly, I was being silly.
I sighed and rolled over so my face was smashed into my pillow. No, I had read enough books and seen enough movies to know that usually, when people ignored these kinds of feelings, they had been right the first time. I didn't like it, well who would like the thought of some crazed lunatic breaking into their house and trying to kill their fish? The absurdity of this thought made me laugh (which came out as a snort thanks to my face being smothered against my pillow). I was getting seriously paranoid. Nobody was trying to kill my fish. Once again, I was unable to hold in my laughter, it burst from me, and once the giggling started, I was unable to stop.
'Girls I'm home - WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE FISH TANK AND WHY IS MY CARPET RUINED!' My Mum's angry yell echoed from downstairs. This sobered me up pretty quickly. I sighed and rolled off my bed, trying to shake off a cramp, and hopped downstairs as fast as I could. If I got there first, I could grass on Kate before she could grass on me. Living with Kate was just so tiring, I had enough on my mind..
Ok, thanks for reading! Comments and feedback are ALWAYS appreciated! I know some of these chapters seem a little random and like not much is happening but its all part of the bigger picture :)
THANKS! :)